Specializing in Roman Catholic Eclectic

Benjamin West’s The Angel at the Tomb of Christ. Note that Matthew only mention two women at the tomb, though this painting, and standard Christian doctrine, has three women there following Mark and Luke. The guards are unique to Matthew. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Please Note: I try to write one or two posts ahead. This morning feels very “Saturday” to me and, well, I punched the wrong button. So tomorrow will be Friday and after that we’ll hope time corrects itself. 🙂

A Rosary Meditation … The First Glorious Mystery, the Resurrection. “And behold, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and drawing near rolled back the stone.” Matthew 28:2. Angels, messengers from God. They come in many forms. Strictly speaking, of course, an angel is a spirit being. But broadly speaking, when thought of as a messenger, an angel can be pretty much anything or anyone. The priest giving his homily is a heavenly messenger. The pope, given his office, is a heavenly messenger. A politician, driven to draft a pro-life bill because of their religious convictions, is a heavenly messenger. For someone lost in the snow and in danger of freezing to death a St. Bernard with a flask of brandy attached to his collar might well be a heavenly messenger. Its only when we start thinking in terms of what a heavenly messenger isn’t that we start to shorten God’s hand. Its best for us not to do that, it’s better to keep our options open to possibilities. You never know when or where you might be in need. The morning of the Resurrection the women coming to the tomb were in need. They knew they couldn’t roll that big rock back out-of-the-way. When you think about this it was obviously a hopeless situation. They knew what they needed to get done and they knew they weren’t going to be able to do it without help. They went anyway. It’s this sort of faith in action that calls out to angles. God knows, God sends. Now, this doesn’t mean we need to walk into heavy traffic trusting God will send a traffic cop style angel to keep us from getting run down. Faith is one thing, being foolhardy, well, there’s a reason for the word “fool” in this instance. Some folks try hard to work with faith of the foolhardy variety. If it weren’t so sad a thing it would be laughable. But healthy trust, based on a faith that loves and isn’t presumptuous, must provide a kind of beacon for angles to home in on. One more reason for you and me to provide light to the world. Because you never know when there’s an angel in the wings, an angel with or without wings, just waiting for an invitation.

Today … St. Timothy. I did a web search and one of the first things that came up was an ad that said, “Find The Truth About St Timothy View Criminal Records In Seconds.” Well, that’s not exactly what I wanted or was expecting. But I think Timothy would appreciate the humor. You don’t become a saint without being able to laugh. Or at least I don’t think you do. With St. Timothy laughing about this particular Google in mind think about this: Being able to laugh at yourself, as well as with others, can lighten up an otherwise tough situation. It’s a release and a relief. If you were faced with a hard situation, like a big rock in your way, wouldn’t you welcome a bit of relief? So here is a chance for you and me to be an angel for someone else. A little laughter might just make the rock lighter. Having said that, I’ll let YOU Google St. Timothy and see what YOU get. 😉

Angels & Laughter … It is said that angels are attracted by the sound of laughter. Our body produces all sorts of beneficial hormones and chemicals when we laugh. Laughter reduces stress. When we laugh we feel better. ~ Susan Gregg ~